Century Activity Theory as a Theoretical Foundation for Information Systems Research

Theoretical models from social psychology have been widely used by information systems researchers as theoretical foundations to explain and predict information systems use. Unfortunately, most of these models used ignore the social context in which IS is used, but rather focus mainly on the individual and the technology. History and time are as well ignored in most cases. Activity theory (AT) offers a set of philosophical concepts that can be used to integrate the human and the technological dimensions into a holistic research approach. This paper presents the basic concepts of Activity Theory and its potential as a theoretical foundation for information systems use research.